Retailers turn to M2M services to lure in customers

The global M2M services market in the retail industry is poised to grow at a CAGR of 34.3% over the period 2015-2019, according to Research and Markets.

In the retail industry, M2M services are used for digital signage as well as real-time payments and transactions.

This technology is used in vending machines to track purchases, inventory level, and sales from a remote location and also in ATMs, parking metres, transport management, smart cashier management, security and surveillance, and customer analysis.

The increased use of M2M in digital signage is one of the major trends upcoming in this market, according to Research and Markets.

Retailers are striving to provide an innovative experience to shoppers by using M2M-based digital signage to offer more information about new product launches, the latest additions in the product line, and discounts, Research and Markets says.

Consumers also use the technology while making online payments through POS terminals.

Further, the lack of standardisation among M2M devices is damaging the growth prospects of the market, Research and Markets states.

The M2M ecosystem comprises many players, and therefore standardisation among devices from different manufacturers is an essential prerequisite to deal with interoperability issues, the researchers say.